Tsunami-_the_Wave_of_Destruction

Tsunami- The Wave of Destruction When the sea parted off the coast of Indonesia on December 26, 2004, the raging water roaring with a medieval echo and raising from the floor of the ocean in gigantic waves, robbed of their loved ones and towns of their identity. The Sumatra earthquake that recorded 9 on the Richter scale had triggered a tsunami that lashed across the coast of 13 nations. When the waves receded, the magnitude of tragedy was over 85,000 dead and millions left homeless. From the 572 dots that comprise the Andaman and Nicobar Islands to Somalia, a country which makes headlines for war as much as for lack of water. The tsunami left little standing in its wake. This killer wave exposed the tenuous grasp humanity has on life. As the toll crossed 10,000 in India, it was a tragedy on the scale of 1993 Latur earthquake and worse than the cyclone that lashed Orissa in 1999. NAGAPATTINAM In Nagapattinam district, the situation was the same everywhere. The toll was 4,900 at the last count. The water wiped out the huts, sliced away buildings and submerged entire families. Even the general hospital in the harbour town of Nagapattinam was not spared. Ten-feet high waves gushed into the buildings, just 300 m from the sea and created havoc. The town under the sea water never look the same again. Fishing boats were washed ashore to a distance of 1 km, with many landing on the rail tracks near Naga- pattinam railway station. Settlements were washed away, electricity poles uprooted and the streets were teeming with people who found no place in the 75-odd relief camps which were spilling over with survivors. CAR NICOBAR The Car Nicobar islands of which only 32 are inhabited, are home to some of the most endangered aboriginal tribes on the globe. Among them are the 200 Onges and 30 great Andamanese. They also sit on the tip of the volcano which has erupted several times, the last being in 1996. What’s worse, the island falls in Zone V, which makes extremely vulnerable to major earthquake. Though for the mainlanders, the island are better known as an occasional paradise- a sometime gateway. After the deluge, came the stories like a trickle from areas where even Air Force planes couldn’t land. Chowra, Car Nicobar, Katchall, Kamorta, Teresa and Hutboy- these islands were either heavily damaged or almost drowned, just as in the low-lying Maldives where 130 of the 200 islands were “substantially” damaged and 19 inhabited islands swept away. CUDDALORE Here the waves were only restless, expected before a full moon night. As the fisherman came in with their catch, dragging their catamarans and boats behind them, women were lining up to buy the fish and sell it in the mainland, their children playing by their feet. The sea they had grown up was seeing was watching silently and then it suddenly struck. Within ten minutes, it rose to a height of a palm tree, flattering everywhere in sight. People clutched at anything- their children a post, a tree, a wall, even a floating window. But the great wall knew no stopping. According to the official estimates, the loss of life in three coastal regions of Cuddalore, Pondicherry and Kalpakkam is about 3000 but every time the sea has washes ashore some more bloated bodies. At Kalpakkam, five officials working with the department of Atomic Energy are missing, even as the environmentalists rage against the Government’s claim of the nuclear reactor being untouched. Village after village bears a haunted air. The receding waters have swathed the standing houses in mud and destroying furniture. Boats were found lying in paddy fields, dotted with the bodies of children, men and women. Almost every family has been touched by the tragedy. None knew where to look; some would go back to the seashore, desperation writ on their faces. Others tried to get into the overcrowded government mortuaries or find a place in the shelter camps. In Cuddalore and other areas, panchayat leaders were taken into confidence and burials arranged for the unidentified after taking the photographs. Women wailed as they walked in the streets and officials were instructed to carry out assessment work as well as coordinate with the Health Department to spray disinfectants and distribute tablets for the cholera. NGOs and Corporates stepped in to help with food and shelter. On December 28, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J. Jayalalitha announced a package of Rs. 153 Crore while the Central Government chipped in with Rs. 500 Crore from the National Calamity Relief Fund. Union Home Minister Shiv Raj Patil announced a package of Rs. 25 Crore for Pondicherry but the Education and Revenue Minister of the Union Territory K. Lakhsminarayanan said rehabilitation would not cost anything less than Rs. 3,000 Crore. CHENNAI On Sunday, between 9 and 9:50 a.m. two walls of water changes the Marina Beach, the second longest such trip in the world, forever, though before this time it was bustling as usual- the inveterate walkers, the youngsters playing cricket, the fishermen busy with their nets. The two walls sucked 200 people into the sea. Bewildered parents were looking for the children who had come for a quick game of cricket, fishermen looking for their wives who were to sell their catch and elderly women searching for their husbands who had come out for a spot of fresh air. In Chennai fishermen colonies Ayodya Kuppam and Nochi Kuppam situated by the water have been washed away. In the pilgrim town of Tiruchendur, sea water entered in land as far as 2 km. KANYA KUMARI/ KERALA In the tsunami disaster, Kanyakumari district has reported the heaviest toll after Naga-pattinam. Three days after the tragedy struck, more than 800 bodies have been recovered. Decomposed bodies surfaced every hour. The government hospital in Kolachi was bursting at its seams with the unidentified dead bodies. Hundreds of bodies were buried in the mass graves on December 28 & 29. The survivors in relief camps no longer had homes and for many even the families were gone. Kanyakumari looked like a ghost town. Thousands of street vendors were pushed to starvation with their shop shut for days. The police banned the boat trips to the Vivekananda Rock Memorial after more than 800 tourists were stranded there for over eight hours without food and water. The hotels and restaurants, which opened later, were almost deserted. Up the coast, in Kerela, the toll had touched 162 by December 29. More than 100 deaths were reported in Kollam district alone, with villages being erased from the map. INDIRA POINT India’s south most edge Indira Point has been washed off the map. There is no trace of the half-dozen international scientists posted there or of the 20 odd inhabitants of the 100 square km Indian Ocean Island. Just 140 km from Sumatra and 51 km from “point zero” at Campbell Bay (India’s Final Operating Base- FOB) it bore the full force of tsunami. The FOB is completely devastated. THE TOLL AND RELIEF * 90% of the nearly 10,000 fatalities on India’s South Eastern coast were fisherman and their families. * An estimated 35,000 boats were lost in Tamil Nadu, depriving fishermen of their means to livelihood. * The energy released by the earthquake was equivalent to 9,500 bombs that destroyed Hiroshima. * The single worst hit town was Banda Acel in Indonesia, where more than 25% of its population is believed to have perished. * The majority of the dead were women and children; more than a third were children alone. * The waves damaged 160 km of national highways and about 520 km of state roads in India. * The waves that swamped the many towns threw back sewage, effluents and garbage that had been dumped in the sea. * Some parts of Sumatra and smaller islands nearby moved up to 35 meters after the earthquake. * Bangladesh, so often at the wrong end of the Bay of Bengal’s wrath, escaped this time, with just two fatalities. * The total aid pledged amounted to US $3 billion, with Germany alone contributing US $674 million. * Even as government hike their aids, the actual amounts, reaching beneficiaries have been much lower. * Pfizer was the largest early corporate contributor, with US $35 million. * Formula 1 car racer Michael Schumacher was the largest single individual donor who gave US $10 million aid to victims. * Hollywood director Steven Spielberg has made a US $1.5 million contribution. CONCLUSION The disaster was particularly poignant because it took the lives of so many and so young. In the secular smorgasbord that is India, the day after Christmas is the start of every child’s winter vacation. When it is Sunday and a cricket match is on, it is one even of greater joy. Little tykes with their tiny bats play out their fantasies of becoming great cricketers. Here is doesn’t matter whether they are the sons of fishermen or businessmen. For death to come as an end then is not just cruel. It is beyond words- even a word like tsunami, that awfully elegant word, so typically Japanese in its measured ferocity, so beloved of English- language enthusiasts, and now so inadequate in describing a Godzillan sea monster of epic proportions. Death proved to be the great leveller-of the rich in their plush playground in Thailand’s Khao Lak and prehistoric tribe, which still lives by an ascaue code in an island.